Customers that patronize certain establishments, such as post offices, banks, restaurants, etc., are frequently required to wait in line before obtaining services. While customers typically expect some delay in obtaining a desired service at a given establishment, customers will not know how long they will have to wait to obtain the service until they actually arrive at the establishment. Certain establishments such as postal offices or banks attempt to manage customer service using some form of central management system for queuing and scheduling waiting lists wherein, for example, a customer is required to obtain a reservation number before gaining access to the particular service.
By way of specific example, some establishments employ a ticketing device that provides customers with numbered tickets to provide an ordered “waiting list” that is managed as a single queue (typically displayed on a monitor), wherein customer service agents/personnel will sequentially serve each person in order in the queue After a customer has obtained a service, the office personal will update the “waiting list” (e.g., by pressing a control button) so that the next customer in queue can gain access to the service.
Although the conventional service management systems which maintain a running “waiting list” may be sufficient for managing a service from the perspective of the establishment providing such service, such conventional service systems are not desirable from the perspective of the customers seeking certain services. For example, conventional systems typically do not provide the customer an estimate, or at least an accurate estimate, of the expected wait time for the next available point in the current waiting list. Moreover, even when a customer is added to the waiting list and provided some form of estimated wait time, the customer cannot leave the establishment without risking the chance of losing acquired position in the waiting list if the customer is not available at the time when the customer's spot in the waiting list queue is reached.